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“Because we had clarity of vision, we dropped football,’’ said Northeastern president Joseph Aoun. “The community has ultimately been better off because we are seeking the best in terms of the student experience. And with respect to football, it was not optimal.’’
Indeed, college’s big money sport is increasingly viewed and valued differently than in the past, especially at schools like Northeastern, where football was never played at the highest level and where the school’s academic identity wasn’t bound up in gridiron success. Dropping football, at such schools, is now viewed as an alternative thoughtful administrators need to take a long, hard look at.
After Northeastern ended its 74-year football tradition, Aoun received calls and e-mails from several university presidents congratulating him and saying they were considering the same course. Aoun recently penned an article describing the process for The Presidency, a magazine aimed at college presidents, because other institutions wanted a playbook for discontinuing football and saw Northeastern as a possible model. As Northeastern did, those schools spend between $3 million and $5 million annually on the sport for equipment, scholarships, travel, coaches’ salaries, and facilities and their teams generate little interest on campus or success on the field.
After dropping football, BU poured $285 million into athletic facilities over 12 years, building a new sports and entertainment complex, a new boathouse, a track and tennis facility and a fitness and recreation center. Alumni giving earmarked for intercollegiate sports has gone up, not down. And student interest has soared, with intramural sports participation up more than 55 percent.
Since BU made its hard choice, in 1997, 28 schools have dared to discontinue football.
Northeastern has reallocated football scholarships and funds to need-based financial aid and other athletic programs, though it continues to pay the scholarships of the 23 players who stayed at the school as well as severance packages for the football coaches. Looking ahead, Aoun said, the university plans further investment in areas with the greatest potential for “excellence and quality’’ and for “the best student experience.’’ That could include money for the hockey and basketball programs, as well as for new academic programs.
His goal, he said, is not to set a standard for other universities pondering the choice Northeastern made, but to set the smartest course for his university.
“My job is not to be a preacher, but to do what’s best for our community,’’ said Aoun. “If it inspires others to follow this lead and say, ‘Yes, the president is not going to lose his job if we discontinue football’ and ‘Yes, the community and the institution is going to thrive after that,’ that’s a good model if people want to use it . . . We are charting our own path.’’
In a two-year review of university athletics started in 2007, difficult questions about football kept surfacing. The status quo $3.5 million spent on a team that, in its final season, won three games and drew an average of 1,600 fans for home games was not an option. To be competitive in recruiting and retaining talent, the university determined it needed to either upgrade Parsons Field or build a new stadium.
The price tag for better facilities: $20 million to $60 million. Was such an investment in one sport in the best interest of the broader institution? For Roby and others immersed in the issue, the answer that emerged was no.
“Do you keep running your kids and your coaching staff out there knowing you’re not really giving them an opportunity to be competitive on a weekly basis and feel that’s OK?’’ said Roby. “Or, do you make a tough choice instead? We tried to make a decision based on what we thought was most fair.’’
It was, as Roby and others expected, a hard choice for some devoted to Northeastern to accept.
Alan Hunte, who lettered for Northeastern football from 1978-81 and watched two sons compete for the university as freshmen last season, saw deception, not fairness, in the decision. He said his relationship with Northeastern is forever fractured.
A recent NCAA report revealed that just 68 of 120 schools in the Football Bowl Subdivision, the highest level of college athletics, made a profit on football in fiscal 2009.
in the Football Championship Subdivision where Northeastern and Hofstra played and schools depend largely on ticket sales and sponsorships for revenue, two of 125 football-playing institutions reported a profit on football during the same span.
But profit isn’t everything. There is also the matter of student and alumni morale, for which many still see winning football as the best inspiration. That may explain why 16 schools plan to launch football programs between this season and 2013. And why, since BU dropped football in 1997, 42 others decided to add football, some resuming it after a hiatus.
Before dropping the sport, BU hired Maguire Associates to survey the university’s applicant pool to determine how the end of 91 years of gridiron history would impact its image. Maguire’s data revealed prospective students were more likely to have attended an opera than a football game.
after reading this it just screams a few schools need to move to NEC/lower scholarship leagues or the same thing will happen.If an ideal profile exists for schools best positioned to drop football and thrive afterward, BU and Northeastern exemplify it: Geographically far from football hotbeds like Florida, Texas, and California. Close to other entertainment options. Home to other sports teams with large, passionate followings — at BU and Northeastern, hockey. And places eager to bolster women’s sports in compliance with federal requirements.
